The winds of change are gaining speed for TradeWind Energy LLC, which recently completed its third office expansion in as many years to support a massive development effort that could mean billions of dollars in capital investment during the next decade.

TradeWind’s Lenexa headquarters now measures 12,650 square feet, this time enlarged by 3,000 square feet to accommodate a work force that has doubled to about 60 in the past 18 months. The company has secured 700,000 acres in 11 states, where it could develop 8,000 megawatts of capacity. That’s about 50 percent more than TradeWind had set out to acquire in a two-year push for the Midwest’s most blustery sites. Its sole operating project, Smoky Hills Wind Farm, generates about 250 megawatts of power on about 25,000 acres.

Successful long-term development of those 8,000 megawatts could take a $16 billion capital investment, Freeman said. TradeWind, which focuses on large projects it can sell at wholesale to utilities, plans to have its next project — or projects — under construction sometime in 2010. The company wants to develop and build as many of the projects as possible during the next decade.

The industry has five to 10 players with significant resources, about two dozen midsize players — including TradeWind — that are reasonably well-financed and dozens more regional players, said Richard Simon, managing director of wind resource assessment firm V-Bar LLC. He said TradeWind is among few companies that target a specific geographic area for development.

TradeWind has financed its growth so far with equity. It hasn’t directly used federal stimulus money, though it may at some point.

Having committed investors that continue to invest is helpful in this environment and also can draw new investors, said Joel Wiggins, CEO of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County, an incubator that housed TradeWind a few years ago.

“Certainly, if they reinvest, that shows confidence in the company and its leadership,” he said.

Although the wind energy industry has pulled back this year, like others feeling the harsh economy and capital crunch, the industry’s solid long-term fundamentals haven’t changed, Freeman said.

The industry had about 5,000 megawatts under construction in October, about 38 percent less than the more than 8,000 megawatts at the same time a year before, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

“The recession definitely had an impact,” said Kathy Belyeu, the AWEA’s manager of industry information. “But because of the stimulus bill, there was less of an impact than we feared.”

The stimulus let wind farm developers choose between a traditional tax credit or getting the money as an upfront grant when the project starts operating.

TradeWind is waiting to see what will happen with a federal renewable energy standard, which could mean long-term direction by requiring a certain portion of electricity to come from renewable sources, and the looming hurdle of getting enough infrastructure to transmit the electricity from the often rural where it’s generated to the population centers that need it.

Meanwhile, TradeWind’s hiring continues — though slower now. And in this environment, it has its pick of people who have been cut loose by competitors that have downsized or shut down and others seeking to change industries.

“We get a lot of resumes coming in the door,” said Geoff Coventry, TradeWind’s senior vice president of operations.

Industries:

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.